Be responsible. Be safe.

We have come to the end of another successful, eventful year and as we wind down our activities, I would like, on behalf of the exco, to wish you love, safety, joy and peace over this period.

What the National Press continues to achieve year after year cannot be done without the participation of its members. To this end I wish to thank you all and further urge you to continue supporting the activities and events of the club. After all, the club is nothing without its members!

I am proud that things are going well and smooth at the National Press Club and this is largely due to the professional service we continue to receive from our secretariat, Ben Rootman and Martin van Niekerk. I need to mention Lisa Dewberry too, for she has been a stalwart at our press briefings and networking forums.

The members of the exco who untiringly attended to the running of the club throughout the year have my thanks and respect, and I wish that going into the New Year, may the spirit of co-operation and dedication to the cause grow.

The press club, like any other entity, operates in a tight financial atmosphere. To this end I wish to urge colleagues to renew their membership fees and hereby confirm that the exco is working hard to secure the financial sustainability of the Club.

The usual favourites – Newsmaker of the Year, Journalist of the Year and the Percy Qoboza Memorial Lecture will soon be upon us again. We all look forward to these with the trust that we will do even better in 2016.

Be responsible. Be safe. Enjoy.

Jos Charle
Chairman
National Press Club

Nominate your newsmaker for 2015

It’s that time of the year again!

Please send us your nomination for the National Press Club’s Newsmaker of the Year for 2015, with a short motivation, by 15 January 2016, to martin@nationalpressclub.co.za. All nominations will be considered by the press club exco and an announcement made before the end of January.

Over the years the club has recognised and awarded many newsmakers. Previous recipients include President Jacob Zuma, as well as former presidents FW de Klerk and Thabo Mbeki. Other newsmakers included Hollywood star Charlize Theron, Zachie Achmat and the Treatment Action Campaign, the late Hansie Cronjé and various other sporting personalities and former DA Leader Helen Zille. ESKOM, Cope and FIFA’s Sepp Blatter and Danny Jordaan also received the award in recent years. Other recipients were Thuli Madonsela, Julius Malema and the South African rhino. Last year the award went to the Oscar Pistorius trial.

New editor for Sunday Times

Bongani Siqoko will take over as editor of South Africa’s top selling Sunday newspaper in January. Current editor, Phylicia Oppelt, has accepted a senior position within the group as general manager of editorial projects.

“We are confident that Bongani will succeed in his new position. He has proved an exceptional editor and leader at the Dispatch and will bring a wealth of experience and a fresh perspective to his new role, especially as the Sunday Times embarks on a new journey with a fresh design and a new multi-platform future,” said managing director, Andy Gill.

Siqoko, who holds an MA in International Journalism from City University London, is currently the editor of the East London-based Daily Dispatch, Saturday Dispatch and DispatchLive. He has been with the Daily Dispatch since November 2004, having held many positions at the newspaper – news editor, managing editor and deputy editor prior to his appointment as editor in June 2013.

Siqoko will start as Sunday Times editor on 11 January 2016. The National Press Club wishes him all the best in this new position.

Networking forums still popular

The National Press Club’s monthly networking forums continue to be popular and we thank – not only our generous hosts – but also our members who support them.

The last event of 2015 was hosted by Absa at their branch in Irene Village Mall. It was a most enjoyable and informative evening – a great way to round off the year.

The first networking forum of 2016 will be hosted by the French Embassy, at the ambassador’s residence, on Thursday, 4 February. Members are requested to diarise this special evening and look out for more information on e-mail.

Exco lekgotla – watch this space!

The press club’s executive committee recently held its annual lekgotla to plan the club’s activities for the next year.

Generously hosted by South African National Parks (SANParks) at the Golden Gate Hotel in the Golden Gate Highlands National Park, the lekgotla was fruitful, with robust debate. Announcements about decisions taken at the lekgotla will be made in the New Year.

SANParks has hosted the club’s lekgotla for a number of years and remains a partner who is crucial to the club’s success. Once again, the Golden Gate National Park was a magnificent experience!

Nestled in the rolling foothills of the Maluti Mountains of the north eastern Free State, the Golden Gate Highlands National Park derives its name from the brilliant shades of gold cast by the sun on the park’s sandstone cliffs, especially the imposing Brandwag rock, keeping vigil over the main rest camp.

This 11 600 hectares of unique environment is true highland habitat, providing home to a variety of mammals – black wildebeest, eland, blesbok, oribi, springbok and Burchell’s zebra – and birds, including the rare bearded vulture (lammergeier) and the equally rare bald ibis, which breed on the ledges in the sandstone cliffs.

Ribbokkop, the highest point in the park, reveals a breathtaking tapestry of red, yellow and purple hues as its warm shades merge with the cool mountain shadows towards evening.

Areas of special interest include the Van Reenen family graveyard, the impressive Brandwag buttress rock formation, the vulture restaurant and Cathedral Cave, which can be seen on a guided walk.

Comments from press club exco members include:

“Great weekend, thank you everyone!” – Willem van de Putte

“Thanks everyone for an awesome weekend!” – Mosidi Mokgele

“Thanks everyone, particularly Rey for such an experience.” – Frans Machate

Feedback

Please send any news, suggestions or information for this newsletter to Martin van Niekerk at the secretariat on martin@nationalpressclub.co.za, 082 257 0305. Website | Facebook | Twitter

Networking at its best!

Thank you very much to the Competition Commission for hosting a very successful press club networking forum at the beautiful Alpine Attitude on 29 July. This was probably the best mid-winter networking forum we’ve ever had!

Congratulations to Ellekia Dire, a freelance journalist and press club member based in Rustenburg, on winning the main raffle prize, courtesy of the Competition Commission. Ellekia won an all-expenses paid trip to Durban for the 4th BRICS International Competition Conference from 10 to 13 November 2015. Other prizes included R500 shopping vouchers at Brooklyn Mall.

Members should watch out for information on future networking forums on e-mail. They are worth attending!

Eritrea has least press freedom

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has rated Eritrea as the most repressive country in the world for press freedom and censorship. Coincidentally, it also has the lowest level of internet usage in the world – with mobile technology blocked by government.

When one considers countries with some of the worst press conditions globally, the predictable propaganda from North Korean broadcasters or the Salafist intolerance to religious debate in Saudi Arabia come to mind, so do China and Zimbabwe. Few, however, look to the small, relatively new African country Eritrea, as the most repressive.

But an annual report “Attacks on the Press” conducted by the press freedom group, the CPJ, rates Eritrea the worst in the world, trumping other authoritarian regimes such as China or Azerbaijan due to the government’s blanket censorship on critical reporting and extremely repressive tactics used to silence the press.

No independent press is allowed to operate and the last accredited foreign journalist, Agence-France Presse correspondent Peter Martell, was expelled in 2007. The last private media outlets were banned in September 2001 during a massive crackdown on the press and senior political dissidents, jailing at least ten journalists without due process.

Fesmdia- Africa

Caxton Magazines continues to innovate with Bona Man

Barely two months after it launched its television programme Bona Mo, Caxton Magazines has launched Bona Man – another milestone.

Initially published as a quarterly companion to Bona, with updated, regular content appearing on www.bonaman.co.za, Bona Man is a natural progression of the most-read glossy magazine in the country, says editor Linda Mali.

“The heritage of Bona is that it also had a 50/50 male-to-female readership,” says Mali. “Then over the years, content skewed more towards the female demographic. So for us it wasn’t a stretch to reintroduce male content in a male-specific title.”

As far as this content is concerned, Mali was insistent that it be generated by men to remain authentic while at the same time adhering to the Bona brand pillars of celebrity, food, fashion, health, relationships and family and careers and entrepreneurship.

Bona Man will be published again with the December 2015 issue of Bona.

Percy Qoboza memorial lecture – 19 October

The fifth Percy Qoboza memorial lecture will be held on the morning of Monday, 19 October 2014 at Unisa.

Arranged annually by the National Press Club in partnership with Unisa, the lecture commemorates ‘Black Wednesday’ – 19 October 1977 – the day the apartheid regime declared illegal 19 Black Consciousness organisations, banned two newspapers and detained scores of activists.

The World newspaper editor Percy Qoboza and other journalists were subsequently arrested and jailed.

This day is now also marked as National Press Freedom Day.

Members will receive particulars of the memorial lecture soon.

Are you a credible spokesperson?

by Marion Scher

Not a day goes by in South Africa when we don’t hear from one government or corporate spokesperson or another. Whether it’s the Office of the President defending one or another of his gaffes or a union official explaining how his members, who wreaked havoc on a city’s streets were protesting peacefully, we generally shrug our shoulders and say ‘really…?’

Then we have our police spokespeople and when I say spokespeople perhaps I should say unspokespeople (see that, I just invented a new word). You only have to look at the appalling case of Mido Macia, the Mozambican taxi driver who died in police custody after being dragged through the streets of Daveyton in Gauteng, handcuffed to a police van in February 2013. The following April the statement came that its officers were not responsible for the man’s death. And this was said with some arrogance.

Today there is irrefutable evidence pointing to the contrary and Macia’s family has also lodged a civil claim for R6.5m. Above all, this arrogance and dismissiveness from our public servants has once again driven a wedge between the police service and the public whom it serves.

The same goes for corporate South Africa. Remember a spokesperson doesn’t always have to be the CEO. Look around your company and find the person who meets the criteria below. I’ve often been called in to companies to train their top executives to speak to the media, only to find someone on a lower level is the better spokesperson.

A good example of this was the chief financial officer of a government organisation who was about to announce their wonderful annual financial results of which she was very proud. The only problem was that this particular organisation was one that the South African public felt highly ripped off by (and for good reason). She’d never faced the media before but as she was the CFO they felt she should be the one to deliver these results.

We put her on camera and asked the simple question ‘How can she justify them showing such a huge profit when we’re paying so much for their particular service – way above world rates in this area?’ Her response was to get angry about the question and go into defence mode. Needless to say the organisation didn’t use her but rather their CEO who was able to handle the situation really well and diplomatically.

So what should a good spokesperson do?

• Firstly they should have answers. And yes, I know when a crisis happens these often take some time to find, but then ask the media respectfully to give you a half hour, an hour, to find more information – assuring them you’ll get back to them quickly.
• Give answers. If you genuinely have these and don’t give them that’s organisational suicide. Because if you don’t give the media the answers they’ll find them out themselves.
• Be able to talk honestly and openly – and be understandable. I’ve never worked out why organisations would choose someone who is not easily understood, and here I’m not talking about whether the person has English as a first language, but rather whether they come across clearly and believably.
• Don’t spin the story. Tell the truth – and tell it fast. Again if you don’t, someone else will – with often dire results.
• Don’t be defensive. That automatically smacks of guilt.
• Stay calm – even when the temperature gets hot and tempers flared.
• Talk from the heart – don’t sound rehearsed. Even though I do recommend rehearsing.
• Don’t be frightened to show emotion – if the scenario is an emotional one. This just makes you appear human and not simply a mouthpiece.
• Don’t try and justify the outrageous – such as a swimming pool disguised as a fire pool…
• If your organisation has stuffed up admit it and tell people what you’re doing to make sure it won’t ever happen again.

Remember these stories of dishonesty leave a very deep stamp on the name of your organisation.

News briefings in the offing

On Monday, 17 August the National Press Club will host the World Bank news briefing where the 7th South Africa Economic Update on the implications of South Africa’s changing demographic profile on growth and employment needs in the country will be released.

The report discusses how the country’s demographics have evolved and what, if any, impact the demographic transition has had on South Africa’s historical economic performance.

Are we heading for ‘water-shedding’?

Given that water is a critical resource for human life and equally for the national economy and South Africa’s international relations, the Minister of Water and Sanitation will discuss the state of water resources, water security in the country and concerns regards ‘water-shedding’ at a National Press Club news briefing soon.

Watch this space, we will keep you posted.

Thank you for paying membership fees

Thank you to those press club members who have paid their membership fees for 2015.

However, despite numerous reminders, a number of members have not yet paid their fees and have now been removed from the membership list.

Membership fees are R250 for full members, R400 for associate members and R120 for student members.

Members are requested to use their surname as reference when payment is done, so that it can be picked up easily by the secretariat.

Contact the secretariat on martin@nationalpressclub.co.za if you are unsure about your payment status.

Feedback

Please send any news, suggestions or information for this newsletter to Martin van Niekerk at the secretariat on martin@nationalpressclub.co.za, 082 257 0305. Website | Facebook | Twitter

Press Club continues to host newsmakers

The National Press Club continues to be a credible news platform, regularly hosting the newsmakers of the day.

In June the club hosted a briefing where the Tourism Business Council of South Africa elaborated on the effects that the new visa regulations have on the travel and tourism industry, referring to a report by Grant Thornton.

We also hosted a briefing with the Minister of Police, Nkosinathi Nhleko, on the on-going Nkandla issue and his findings on the matter.

Members are encouraged to approach the secretariat with proposals for news briefings, which are then considered by the executive committee.

Nunu Ntshingila to head up Facebook’s first African office

Based in Melrose Arch, Facebook opened its first African office to further the company’s commitment to help businesses connect with people. Ogilvy veteran, Nunu Ntshingila, will be the company’s new Head of Africa.

Facebook’s active user population in Africa has grown 20 percent to 120 million in June 2015 from 100 million in September 2014. More than 80 percent of these people access Facebook from their mobile phones.

“We are inspired by the incredible ways people and businesses in Africa use Facebook to connect. This momentum in Africa comes on top of strong advertiser partnerships and excellent adoption of our products across all regions. In Q1 2015, 52 percent of our total ad revenue came from outside the US and Canada. But we’re just getting started,” says Nicola Mendelsohn, VP, EMEA, Facebook.

“Mobile is not a trend; it’s the fastest development in communications we’ve ever seen. This couldn’t be more true in Africa – where so many people are mobile-only. This new office is a significant milestone for Facebook and our teams want to partner with businesses across the continent,” Mendelsohn adds.

Helping businesses grow

“Our new African office will support our customers across the continent. We know that a one-size-fits-all approach won’t work when it comes to building products and solutions that address diverse needs on the continent, which is why we are committed to creating solutions tailored to people, businesses and specifically for African markets,” says Ari Kesisoglu, Regional Director, EMEA at Facebook.

Kesisoglu continued, “Our priority for the next few months is to continue the work we are already doing with some clients in this region. We will work more closely with businesses and agencies to understand the challenges, so that we can build solutions that help grow their business. People increasingly want to be connected to the world around them and desire information about new services and products to better their lives. At the same time, businesses need stronger, more flexible and less fragmented ways of reaching people in sub-Saharan Africa. Our mission will be to connect brands and consumers in Africa, creating value for all parties in the process.”

Growth markets

Facebook will initially focus on growing its business in anchor countries in the major regions of sub-Saharan Africa: Kenya (East Africa), Nigeria (West Africa), and South Africa (Southern Africa). Other supported territories include Senegal, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia, Mozambique and Ethiopia.

Facebook will partner with governments, telecom operators, agencies and other stakeholders to deliver localised solutions to advertisers and users continent-wide. It will continue to focus on tailoring solutions, metrics and ad formats to the needs of customers and advertisers in the mobile-first, mobile-only African environment.

Bizcommunity.com

Press club addresses Boston’s Teachers Forum

Press club exco member Simone Heradien, Senior Editor at Rekord, recently addressed the Boston City Campus & Business College Teachers Forum.

The forum is held to introduce teachers from various schools to Boston.

Heradien addressed the audience on the current status of press freedom in South Africa, what the law says and how we compare with other countries.

Boston’s journalism department, including its students, actively participates in press club activities and we look forward to continue this relationship.

Scholarships for journalism courses available

Midcareer journalists from several developing countries can apply for a scholarship to attend a Radio Nederland Training Centre (RNTC) course in the Netherlands.

The Netherlands Fellowship Programmes (NFP) are accepting applications for journalism courses at the training centre. NFP is funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and run by the Netherlands Organization for International Cooperation in Higher Education.

RNTC is offering several courses for journalists:

• Mastering Story in Documentary-Making (25 Nov 2015 to 19 Feb 2016)
• Using Media for Development (18 to 29 Jan 2016)
• Producing Media to Counter Radicalization (18 Jan to 5 Feb 2016)
• Video Journalism (12 to 26 Feb 2016)
• Broadcast and Multimedia Journalism (15 Feb to 4 March 2016)

Candidates must be from one of these countries: Afghanistan, Mali, Albania, Nepal, Bangladesh, Mozambique, Armenia, Nicaragua, Benin, Myanmar, Bolivia, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Peru, Burundi, Palestinian Territories, Cambodia, Philippines, Colombia, Rwanda, Cuba, Senegal, Djibouti, Somalia, DR Congo, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, South Africa, Egypt, Sudan, Ghana, South Sudan, Eritrea, Surinam, India, Tanzania, Georgia,Thailand, Indonesia, Uganda, Guatemala, Zambia, Kenya, Vietnam, Jordan, Zimbabwe, Yemen, Macedonia and Mongolia.

NFP fellowships cover travel costs, accommodation and the course fee.

The deadline to apply for the fellowship program is July 24.

Registration deadlines for the individual courses vary.

View more information

Diarise the Percy Qoboza memorial lecture

The fifth annual Percy Qoboza memorial lecture will be held on Monday, 19 October 2015.

Presented annually by the National Press Club in collaboration with the Department of Communication Science at Unisa, the lecture commemorates 19 October 1977 – or Black Wednesday – when the apartheid regime declared illegal 19 Black Consciousness organisations, banned two newspapers and detained scores of activists.

The World newspaper editor Percy Qoboza and other journalists were subsequently arrested and jailed.

Today 19 October is known as National Media Freedom Day.

Press club members are requested to diarise this morning event – more detail will be announced soon.

New members

The National Press Club welcomes the following new members:

Bongani Lukhele – Dept of Trade and Industry, Sandile Xasp – Discovery Limited, Courtney Africa – Independent/Cape Times, Xolani Cele – eNCA cameraman, Joel Sekgoela – Public Investment Corporation, Khutsahalo Matlhare – Vaal Metro Press, Joanne Danvers – Boston Media House, Chad Thomas – ChaiFM, Zikhona Lihle – Boston Media House, Lizette Odendaal – Tshwane University of Technology.

We look forward to seeing you at a press club event soon!

Thank you for paying membership fees

Thank you to those press club members who have paid their membership fees for 2015.

However, despite numerous reminders, a number of members have not yet paid their fees and will be removed from the membership list.

Membership fees are R250 for full members, R400 for associate members and R120 for student members.

Members are requested to use their surname as reference when payment is done, so that it can be picked up easily by the secretariat.

Feedback

Please send any news, suggestions or information for this newsletter to Martin van Niekerk at the secretariat on martin@nationalpressclub.co.za, 082 257 0305. Website | Facebook | Twitter